Homicide victim 'hard-working kid'

Updated 11:33 pm, Monday, November 11, 2013

A street memorial to homicide victim Justin Mariano, of Shelton, on Spring Street near the intersection of East Main Street in Bridgeport, Conn. where Mariano was shot multiple times on Saturday night.

A street memorial to homicide victim Justin Mariano, of Shelton, on Spring Street near the intersection of East Main Street in Bridgeport, Conn. where Mariano was shot multiple times on Saturday night.

A street memorial to homicide victim Justin Mariano, of Shelton, on Spring Street near the intersection of East Main Street in Bridgeport, Conn. where Mariano was shot multiple times on Saturday night.

A street memorial to homicide victim Justin Mariano, of Shelton, on Spring Street near the intersection of East Main Street in Bridgeport, Conn. where Mariano was shot multiple times on Saturday night.

Mariano was fatally shot Saturday night at East Main and Spring streets, where he caught his bus. It was the city's 10th homicide of 2013.

The intersection is located outside of the Holy Ghost Russian Orthodox Church. It's a commercial, heavily trafficked stretch of East Main Street, while Spring Street is residential.

One woman who lives in the area said she heard shots and a cry for help, peeked out the door and saw a wounded Mariano.

"He was still standing up, holding his leg or something," said the woman, who declined to be identified.

That, police said, was about 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Police were called to Bridgeport Hospital after a wounded Mariano arrived there. He died at the hospital.

Police spokesman Bill Kaempffer said Monday that detectives were making good progress on the case, including having tracked down a man and a woman recorded in video footage.

"The two people who were in the video have been identified by detectives and were interviewed," Kaempffer said.

Kaempffer would not describe the couple's role in the investigation or provide other details about the case.

"At this point, detectives (are) following very strong leads," he said. "We're declining further comments for the integrity of the investigation."

A memorial of about 50 candles, bottles of liquor, a stuffed bear and a sign with hand-written messages was at the shooting scene on Monday.

Some of the messages, and graffiti on the sidewalk, referred to Mariano as "J. Kapone" and "King `J' Capone."

That same nickname -- "J. Kapone" -- was also spray-painted on the building that houses Sharpcutz.

Speculation at the barber shop and the crime scene was that Mariano was shot because of a dispute over a phone. Kaempffer said police had no information on that speculation.

Mariano's last address was inside Woodland Park, a mobile home park off of Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton. A pair of young men who answered the door at Mariano's address on Monday said they knew him, but it was not his permanent address. They declined further comment, but said Mariano had at one time been in the military.

Back in Bridgeport, one resident of Spring Street said it was not bad neighborhood.

"That never happened before," said William Barragan, who said he has lived on Spring Street for a decade.

Marie Williams, of Norwalk, opened a beauty supply store around the corner on East Main Street in September. She learned of Saturday's shooting on the news.

"When they said the name of the street I said, `Oh my God, that was close,' " she said.

She said friends had discouraged her from opening in Bridgeport, saying the city is too dangerous.